Immersive Environment with Digital Environment to Enhance Depth Sensation

1. A method for operating an immersive display to provide a monocular psychological depth cue to the viewer by controlling an image rendering wherein the image rendering provides or enhances depth sensation to the viewer based on specific parameters of the immersive display, the method comprising: providing a display screen and a mirror forming the immersive display which does not have any component being head-mounted and which is remotely distant to a viewer, the display screen being only visible to a design eye point via the mirror which forms a virtual image of the display screen; displaying on a display screen a plurality of objects within an immersive environment, to provide to the viewer the image rendering that is immersive; and by a computer system: controlling the image rendering of the immersive environment, the controlling being based on fields of view subtended by the display screen for the viewer via the mirror with respect to the design eye point, the controlling comprising rendering fields of view in the immersive environment on the display screen via the mirror which substantially match fields of view subtended by the display screen for the viewer via the mirror with respect to the design eye point to provide the monocular psychological depth cue to the viewer; and controlling a size and a location of each one of the plurality of objects, the controlling being based on a distance between the display screen and the design eye point to provide the monocular psychological depth cue to the viewer for each one of the plurality of objects, wherein the controlling of the image rendering by the computer system is thereby based on specific parameters of the immersive display.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying the plurality of objects within the immersive environment comprises displaying on the display screen distant from the viewer at the design eye point at a distance D.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein controlling the image rendering of the immersive environment comprises setting a near clipping plane to be equal to the distance D.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: providing a curved mirrored surface in addition to the display screen to perform the displaying.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the curved mirrored surface and the display screen are provided at a distance D smaller than the distance that would produce collimated light when reflecting from the curved mirrored surface.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein controlling the image rendering of the immersive environment comprises setting a near clipping plane to be equal to a distance from the viewer to the curved mirrored surface.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the image rendering of the immersive environment and the size and the location of each one of the plurality of objects comprises placing each one of the plurality of objects in the environment and controlling the image rendering of the immersive environment to provide visible parallel lines extending along reference elements in the immersive environment.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling a size and a location of each one of the plurality of objects comprises applying a movement on the plurality of objects, or a lighting artifact thereof, shown at approximately constant speeds with respect to the immersive environment.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the image rendering of the immersive environment comprises inserting or defining a reference element in the immersive environment, and wherein controlling a size and a location of each one of the plurality of objects comprises applying a rotation between each one of the plurality of objects and the reference element of the immersive environment.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising blurring or tinting a color rendering of the each one of the plurality of objects depending on a respective distance thereof from the viewer.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the image rendering of the immersive environment comprises at least one of displaying a horizon or providing graphic elements in the immersive environment which define a vanishing point.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing user controls for interacting with contents of the immersive environment and the plurality of objects.

13. A method for operating an immersive display which produces a virtual image, to provide a monocular psychological depth cue to an observer by controlling an image rendering wherein the image rendering provides or enhances depth sensation to the observer based on specific parameters of the immersive display, the method comprising: providing the immersive display comprising a display screen and an optical component which produces the virtual image of the display screen, both the display screen and the optical component remotely distant from the observer at a design eye point; thereby not have any component which is head-mounted and leaving the observer free of any head-mounted component; using a computer system to locate a plurality of digital objects within a 3D digital environment on the display screen of the immersive display, based on a characteristic distance in the immersive environment defined from the observer at the design eye point to any one chosen among an optical element producing the virtual image of the display screen, an optical distance to the display screen, and an optical distance to the virtual image, to provide an image rendering that provides or enhances depth sensation and is immersive for the observer at the design eye point; wherein displaying the plurality of digital objects within the 3D digital environment is controlled by the computer system for: providing a near clipping plane and a far clipping plane of the image rendering defining a volume of the 3D digital environment to be rendered graphically; and setting at least one of the near clipping plane and the far clipping plane to be equal to the characteristic distance in the immersive environment.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the optical element to define the characteristic distance from the observer is the display screen.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the optical element which produces the virtual image of the display screen to define the characteristic distance from the observer is a mirror.

16. A method for operating a computer system for an immersive display, to provide a monocular psychological depth cue to an observer by controlling an image rendering wherein the image rendering provides or enhances depth sensation to the observer based on specific parameters of the immersive display, the method comprising: providing the immersive display comprising a display screen and an optical component which produces a virtual image of the display screen, both the display screen and the optical component remotely distant from the observer; thereby not have any component which is head-mounted and leaving the observer free of any head-mounted component; providing an operating system on the computer system that places a plurality of digital objects within a 3D digital environment on the display screen of the immersive display distant from the observer to provide an image rendering that is immersive, the placing being based on a characteristic distance in the immersive environment defined from the observer at the design eye point to any one chosen among an optical element producing the virtual image of the display screen, an optical distance to the display screen, and an optical distance to the virtual image; wherein displaying the plurality of digital objects within the 3D digital environment is controlled by the operating system on the computer system to implement a monocular psychological depth cue to the observer for each one of the plurality of objects, further comprising: providing a near clipping plane and a far clipping plane of the image rendering defining a volume of the 3D digital environment to be rendered graphically, and setting at least one of the near clipping plane and the far clipping plane to be equal to characteristic distance in the immersive environment defined from the observer.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the characteristic distance is defined from the observer to the display screen.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the characteristic distance is defined from the observer to the rendered image.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the image is produced by a lens which images the display screen, and the characteristic distance is defined from the observer to the lens.